Kathmandu, Nepal -- A Nepal Airlines plane bound for the city of Jumla from Kathmandu, the capital, crashed in the forests of western Nepal on Sunday, almost certainly killing all 18 people aboard, officials said.

An official at Tribhuvuwan International Airport in Kathmandu blamed bad weather for the crash, saying it had been snowing for much of the day. The plane did not have deicing equipment, which is needed in such conditions, the official said.

The plane crashed around 1 p.m. in the forests near Arghakhachi. Shushil Ghimire, Nepal's tourism secretary, said that its burning wreckage had been located.

Civil aviation officials said there was almost no chance that anyone could be rescued from the crash site.

The de Havilland Canada-manufactured Twin Otter plane had 15 passengers and three crew members on board.

In May, another plane of the same make and model operated by state-owned Nepal Airlines crashed while attempting to land at a mountain airstrip in northern Nepal, injuring all 21 people on board.

The plane was scheduled to fly directly from Kathmandu to Jumla, about 250 miles to the west, but stopped to refuel at Pokhara's airport about a third of the way into the journey.